Opel says high-performing dealers will get the chance to generate more profit.

PSA Group will focus its slimmed-down Opel/Vauxhall dealership network across Europe on sales performance and customer satisfaction.

As many as a third of the region’s 1,600 Opel/Vauxhall dealerships could be axed, reports said, after PSA canceled all dealer contracts this month with two years’ notice.

Opel’s sales and marketing chief, Peter Kuespert, said new contracts will be offered by 2020 that focus more on performance and creating a stronger culture to promote it. “That will pay off for our performance-oriented dealers,” he told Automobilwoche, a sibling publication of Automotive News.

PSA and Opel examine dealership performance as part of Opel’s PACE turnaround plan to restore sustainable profitability. “It was shown that the range of performance within our dealer network is too great. That is not something we can ignore,” Kuespert said.

The new contracts will put less emphasis on the dealer’s fulfillment of standards. “Instead of paying margins to dealers for the fulfillment of certain requirements, in the future we will pay performance-related bonuses that target sales figures and customer satisfaction,” Kuespert said.

“The bottom line is that we are offering our high-performing dealers the chance to generate more profit,” he said.

Complexity will also be reduced. For example, in the future contracts for the sale of commercial vehicles and passenger cars will be the same. “We are counting on our dealers even more to drive our commercial vehicle offensive. We still see great potential in this financially attractive segment,” Kuespert said.

PSA, which bought Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors last year, did not say how many Opel/Vauxhall dealerships will be retained. Vauxhall boss Stephen Norman told reporters: "The requirements of the industry going forward and the requirements of the brands Opel and Vauxhall would not require as many retail outlets as the brands currently have."